Northampton County Study Yields Profile Of Drunken Driver

March 10, 1986|The Morning Call

The people arrested least for drunken driving in Northampton County last year were middle-age or older black and Hispanic widows with college degrees and incomes above $25,000 a year driving between noon and 5 p.m. on Mondays in the Slate Belt.

Those who most felt the weight of the drunken driving law in the county were white, single and married men under the age of 45 who had no more than a high school diploma and were earning less than $25,000 a year driving from 5 p.m. to 4 a.m. Saturday and Sunday in Bethlehem or Easton.

These profiles can be gleaned from the recently released 1985 statistics of the Bethlehem Council on Alcoholism.

Arrests last year for drunken driving in the county totaled 459 drivers, well above the 392 arrests for the same offense in 1984.

Even though the number of men and women in the county is relatively equal, many more men than women were arrested for drunken driving last year: 411 men to 48 women.

Of the total number arrested, 415 drivers (90 percent) were white, 20 were black, and 23 were Hispanic.

With age seems to come wisdom about drunk driving. Only 16 percent of those arrested were 45 or older. This age group makes up 36 percent of the county population. Fifty-one percent were 29 or younger.

Single drivers led the marital status list of those arrested. In all, 190 single people were caught for DUI. Married DUI offenders totaled 130. By contrast, only three widows were arrested.

People with college degrees made up only 5 percent (24 drivers) of the number arrested. Drivers with no more than a high school diploma made up 81 percent of those caught. The remaining 14 percent were drivers with some post high school training.

It seems to be true in DUI statistics that the poor get poorer. Sixty- eight percent of those arrested earned less than $16,000 a year. Only 10 percent of those arrested made $25,000 or more a year.

The occupation category of those arrested shows unskilled workers the most frequent offenders: 132 arrests (29 percent of the total). By contrast, there were no executives or major professionals arrested and only two managers or lesser professionals.

As might be expected, the three-day weekend shows the highest incidence of arrests - 44 percent of all arrests were made during this time. On Mondays only 5 percent of the arrests were made.

Ninety-one percent of all arrests were made between 5 p.m. and 4 a.m.; only 4 percent were made between noon and 5 p.m.

Bethlehem and Easton police made 65 arrests each for DUI. State police, working often in municipalities without police forces, made 68 arrests. The municipalities in which state police made arrests were not given.